Dr. Peterberg has announced that Kupat Cholim Klalit,
Israel's largest health fund (HMO), will adamantly oppose
every case of mercy killing to be perpetrated by starving a
patient, even one who is very ill and appears to be dying. He
further adds that neither the Fund, its doctors nor other
personnel have any intention of performing such killings.
Director of the Beit Rivkah Geriatric Rehabilitation Center,
Dr. Shai Brill announced, "No one on the hospital staff is
prepared to lend a hand to the killing of a patient by
starving to death."
These statements were made in the wake of the recent decision
by the judge of Tel Aviv's regional court, Justice Telgam
which, for the first time in Israel, permits killing a
patient by shutting his feeding apparatus and starving him to
death.
Kupat Cholim Klalit's legal advisor, Dr. Yitzchak Levi,
related that according to Israeli law, those who carry out
Justice Telgam's decision may be charged with manslaughter,
punishable by ten years in prison. Justice Telgam also noted
this in his decision, explicitly stating that any medical
staff that acts on his ruling and does the killing runs a
risk of being tried in court.
Justice Telgam's attitude toward similar rulings from other
countries seems to imply that artificial feeding is not
considered medical treatment and, if so, either the court or
the patient's custodians must consider removing the patient
from the medical institution in which he is hospitalized if
they want to starve the patient.
Kupat Cholim Klalit is considering appealing the decision in
the Supreme Court.
